


Caring is involuntary

by 221B_on_Gallifrey



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s), Originally Posted Elsewhere, originally posted on Quotev
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 05:48:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7347613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/221B_on_Gallifrey/pseuds/221B_on_Gallifrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Caring is not an advantage, Sherlock." His brother informed. Lilac looked towards them for a brief moment as she walked calmly the opposite direction of them.<br/>"Caring is involuntary."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caring is involuntary

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on Quotev under the username 'Lollieness is secretly satan (@Lollieness)' by me, so if you see it elsewhere I'd like it if you told me. (Don't know why anyone would copy this, though.) Thanks.
> 
> Here's the first chapter. It gets better sometime later.  
> I combined the first three chapters into one here, so this chapter is about 3000 words. (One off!)  
> Enjoy!

Lilac inhaled as she observed the area. It seemed quite low-key and boring, which was fine. She would blend in quite nicely if she could keep her mouth shut for future audiences. Of course, Lilac really didn't care about what other people thought, she just knew for her sake that blending in would be a fairly reasonable option.

Lilac smiled as she crossed the street to face a black door with a flat number and a door handle. She lifted the surprisingly light brass door handle and knocked 3 times. An old woman opened the door with an oddly happy expression. Lilac quickly observed her, noticing some odd things.

'Widow. Her flowery dress indicates that she is a homely person who cares about people. She'd never go away far for the purpose of work, so being a landlady suited her. She's not quite boring... No, she has an odd past involving her husband, possible that she was an exotic dancer by the way she looks around and walks. She has dark circles under her eyes because something in these flats keep her awake, so there's a high probability of a loud noise or loud people. She also has a worry about someone close to her. Not anyone she knew when she was young. No, she's too cheerful to have known anyone she should worry about when she was younger.'

Lilac smiled at the landlady thoughtfully. "Hi! I called two days ago about looking at the available flat." Lilac kept her smile glued to her face as she looked at the landlady.

"Oh, you must be Lilac! Come in dear." The landlady opened to door to let Lilac step in, and as soon as Lilac had stepped past the door, it was closed. "Right this way dear." The landlady lead Lilac to the flat and showed her around. Lilac noticed quite a few things that would need fixing if she were to take the flat, but none of it was a problem for her. To Lilac, the rooms seemed to be the perfect size and it looked like she could fit everything she needed and more. Heck, there was even enough room for a sock index!

"So what do you think, dear?" The landlady asked at the end of their tour. Lilac looked around for a brief moment to contemplate whether or not she wanted the flat or not, and Lilac turned to face the older woman who had a smile on her face.

"I think I'll take the flat!" Lilac excitedly smiled back to the woman who had shown her the advertised flat.

"Of course, it might need a little work..." The older woman looked around briefly, but Lilac simply shook her head.

"It's fine. I'll have this cleaned up in no time!" Lilac exclaimed, keeping her excited mood. Perhaps having sugar in her coffee this morning wasn't such a good idea. "When am I allowed to move in? Can I move in tomorrow? Only if that's okay with you." Lilac looked over at the landlady. 'Of course she'll be okay with it'.

"That soon? That's fine dear, as long as you're not rushing ahead too quickly." 'She would seem so typical to the average eye, but she's not typical at all!' Lilac thought, 

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.I'll just hire some people to fix anything I need fixed." Lilac smiled, but quickly turned to face the landlady on a more serious note. "I just remembered something. You won't mind me having a skull on the table, will you? People tend to find that concerning, which confuses me." 'Should I have said that?'

Instead of being horrified (The feeling Lilac had come to expect from most people), the landlady simply looked a bit surprised. "Looks like you'll fit in around here, especially with the boys."The landlady chuckled. Lilac assumed that 'the boys' lived in the neighboring flat.

Once they got to the landlady's flat, the landlady made some tea and  grabbed some documents. "You won't have to pay upfront, just so you know." After an informative discussion about the terms and conditions, most of which were on the documents, Lilac signed the official papers. The landlady quickly got up to brag a small case, and after shuffling about three items, pulled out a small golden object. "Here you are! The key to flat 221C. I hope you like it here on Baker Street."

___________________

Lilac walked past the boxes stacked in the middle of the room and stopped in front of the mantelpiece. She stared the final object that would go in the box of her personal belongings. She smiled at the object, smiling intently at the photo frame surrounding two smiling teenagers staring at the camera with unnaturally happy expressions. Carefully, she wrapped in in red paper and placed it face down beneath the skull, remembering her old friend.

Lilac was careful not to break any object in the box as she walked down the stairs and into the taxi that she had called. Lilac hoped that by the time she had arrived at Baker Street, the people she had hired to fix the wallpaper and the floor had finished their job. She really didn't feel like dealing with lots of noise right now...No. All she wanted was to waltz in, pay the people, and then take a look to see exactly where all her furniture would fit.

As soon as she tuned the corner into Baker Street, she already knew that they weren't finished. As the taxi approached the building, Lilac could hear loud sounds coming from her new flat. 'There's still working. Great. Just great.' Lilac finally saw the taxi stop in front of her new flat building.

After thanking and paying the taxi driver, Lilac stepped towards the front door of the building. She smirked up at the building before being greeted by the landlady. The landlady invited Lilac to her flat for tea, which Lilac gladly accepted. 

"The kettle has already boiled, dear." The landlady smiled as she poured the tea. Lilac sat down at the table as the landlady set the tea in front of her. Lilac thanked the landlady before taking a sip of the rose tea.

"So how has your day been? I hope that the noise hasn't annoyed you too much." Lilac took another sip of the tea as she looked around the landlady's flat. Nothing looked like it had been moved since the previous day. The landlady shook her head.

"Oh, it was fine, dear. There's usually a bit of noise around here, with the boys and all. It would be lovely for you to meet the boys, though they can be quite a handful sometimes, especially Sherlock. Though they seem to think that I'm there housekeeper." She joked, taking a sip of tea. Lilac chuckled a bit. The landlady almost spilled her tea as she set it down. "When they're not off on business or fighting, they're quite sweet." Lilac looked at the landlady curiously. 'Are they gay?' She thought.

"Yes. I should meet them, shouldn't I?" Lilac paused as she set her empty tea cup on the tray. "Are they home right now?" Lilac asked. 'Yes, just to know if they're boring or not. Please don't be boring. Oh, what are the chances of them being interesting? Everyone's boring. Barely anyone is actually interesting. The quest is, just how boring are they?'

"They should be. I didn't see or hear them leave. Would you like to meet them now?" The landlady asked. Lilac simply nodded.

"I'll go go to my flat to pay the workers first, since they seem to be finished. I'll meet you back down here in a few minutes." Lilac smiled at the landlady as she stood up. Lilac looked over at the box, which she had placed near the door. 'I'll get that after.'

"Okay dear. I'll wait here and finish my tea." The landlady smiled. Lilac pushed her chair in and sprinted to her apartment. She smiled as she took the money and paid everyone, letting them leave as she thanked them. As soon as everyone had left, Lilac spun around, quickly checking how polished the new oak floor was. She smiled as she quickly danced around to check the integrity of the floor. The walls were perfectly wallpapered with white crowns in front of blue backgrounds. Not quite what Lilac was expecting, but okay nonetheless. Lilac smiled at the large space, spinning slowly on one foot to observe the space before walking to the door with a smirk on her face. Everyone would think that she was perfectly ordinary, and no one would expect anything about her past.

Lilac walked quickly to the landlady's flat, being careful not to keep her waiting for too long. That would be impolite, not that Lilac particularly cared about being polite to people, But being new to these flats, she would have to be somewhat polite to the residents. The landlady smiled when she saw Lilac, closing the door of her apartment. "Ready dear?" Lilac nodded. "Although I do have to warn you, Sherlock can be quite... difficult, when meeting new people." The landlady warned, leading Lilac up the stairs and knocking on a door.

Lilac rocked back on her toes to her heels, something she did to stretch her legs sometimes. Lilac made a quick mental note not to deduce the people she were about to meet. 'Be nice. Don't cause trouble. Chances are that these people want to live peacefully. Don't disturb their peace, no matter how boring peace is.' Lilac put on a genuine smile as the door opened to a short blond man. 'Oh, Mrs. Hudson! Hello. Come in!" Lilac realized that she hadn't bothered to ask for the landlady - Mrs. Hudson's name, and mentally cursed. 

When Lilac walked in, she instantly noticed the man with the dark curly hair sitting on the couch with his fingers touching by the tips. He looked like he was deep in thought, and Lilac could instantly tell that he wasn't going to be boring. 'Not boring at all. This should be interesting. I think I'll like it here. That purple shirt suits him.'

"John, this is Lilac. She's moving into the spare flat!" Mrs. Hudson beamed excitedly. John extended a hand - Which Lilac took - before saying something along the lines of 'Welcome. It's a pleasure to meet you', to which Lilac responded with 'Thanks, you too.'

"Sherlock..." Mrs. Hudson started, before the man jumped out of his seat and examined Lilac. He was barely taller than her, but he still seemed to look down at her. 'Condescending' Lilac thought.

"Interesting. Upper-class Irish, clear from the accent and your shoes. You were a..." Lilac decided to cut him off. If anyone was making deductions, it was her.

"You're a sociopath. but not a normal one. Possibly a high-functioning one, but possibly on the border of being a psychopath. You have an odd profession, but due to your narcissistic self importance, which was shown by you not regarding the door when there was a knock, you probably invented it. Seeing the mixture of files on your desk, you're probably some sort of detective that occasionally works with the police, and you're busy as you are currently on a case. You have one brother who is in a government position, obvious from the fact that one of the cases on your desk is classified from MI5, and that the government wouldn't go to a detective to help them." Lilac pointed at the dark grey file on the desk.   
"He goes to your help since being in a governmental position, he can't be away from his office for a long duration of time, and thus asks you to do the fieldwork. You are very antisocial, talking only to people when you need to or when you really want to. Because you believe you are so superior, you get bored rather easily, quite like myself. That's more than enough for an introduction, how did I do?" Lilac asked. She twisted her head around to see Mrs. Hudson looking surprised, and John looking bewildered.

Lilac looked back at Sherlock, who had an unreadable expression over his face. "Don't play deductions with me, Sherlock. You wont win." Lilac smirked as she watched Sherlock had a look of surprise. He quickly regained himself, masking himself with a smile. Lilac smirked even more.

"She's even more like than you than I thought!" Mrs. Hudson chuckled. Sherlock looked as though he was trying to speak, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do so. Eventually, he took a step toward Lilac, smiled, and offered a hand.

"It's an absolute pleasure to meet you, Lilac. I hope you like it here. It's great to have someone like me here." He smiled, and Lilac knew it wasn't fake. She looked at his hand for a brief moment before placing her hand in his and proceeding the handshake.

"Oh good, not another Sherlock!" John sounded exasperated. Lilac turn toward him, breaking her eye contact from Sherlock. John looked absolutely defeated. Lilac looked at him for a brief moment.

"Afghanistan, was it?" Lilac asked, to which John gave an annoyed expression and sighed. "Thought so."

Lilac heard the footsteps stop and turned around to see Sherlock, frozen in place. Slowly, he turned to face her, a mix of fascination and confusion on his face. He took a step toward her, scanning her once more, before he observed John.

"How?" He asked, taking a quick step toward her. "How did you know it was Afghanistan?" Lilac looked at him curiously.

"I'm sorry? How didn't you know?" Lilac asked. It was her turn to look confused and fascinated. Sherlock flashed a look of puzzle over at John. Lilac turned her head to look at John, who widened his eyes in realization. John looked over at Lilac.

"When I first met you, you asked me if I was at Afghanistan or Iraq." John shifted his gaze to Lilac. "How did you know it was Afghanistan?" Lilac turned back to Sherlock with a small smirk twisted upon her lips.

"Since you know how he's military, I'll skip to the difference between the two wars. He was an army doctor, unlikely that he'd have much of a tan... Unless he was in Afghanistan or Iraq. His tan has faded slightly, and since I suspect he hasn't been living here for an extended amount of time, he mustn't have had a really dark tan. The only place where a war is happening for an army doctor would get his kind of tan would have to be Afghanistan." Lilac smiled at Sherlock.

Sherlock continued to stare at Lilac with confusion. "He never told you he was a doctor." Lilac let out a short laugh and turned toward the open laptop on the table. "Look at his laptop screen."  'The personal blog of Dr. John H. Watson. Since I already knew he was military, it wasn't difficult to make the connection." Lilac smirked as she turned to look over at John.

"Unlike most people, I actually observe." Lilac turned to look at Mrs. Hudson, who had stood there quietly "I must be off. I have to get the box from Mrs. Hudson's flat." Lilac smiled at Sherlock before she walked out the door and down the stairs. Lilac smiled down at the box and carefully lifted it from the ground. Lilac turned around, and startled to see Sherlock standing there, almost jumped back.

"I'll take that." Sherlock took the box from Lilacs hands and rushed towards Lilac's flat. Lilac sighed as John apologized, and she quickly walked to her own flat. She walked in in find Sherlock's coat disappearing around the kitchen corner. Lilac closed her eyes in annoyance, but opened them when she heard the sound of glass. She darted into the kitchen and hurried to open the box. She opened it to see that nothing was broken, and she let out a long breath.

"Something of sentimental value then." Sherlock scoffed, picking up the first object that came into view. "A skull. Well, I don't blame you. I have one too, but Mrs. Hudson took it from me." Sherlock held the skull out if front of him, smirking knowingly at it. He placed it down and shifted a few objects around. He picked up a rectangular object wrapped in red paper. Lilac's eyes widened with alert and she quickly took it from him. She walked around the bench and placed it above the cupboard.

"Don't even think about it, Sherlock." Lilac warned when she spotted him gazing at it. He snapped his head over at her and nodded. Lilac walked into the living area to see where she would put the furniture she had ordered. Sherlock noticed that Lilac had a sad expression spread across her face, and quietly observed her. What an odd character. She had been able to deduce just as well as he, if not better. 'She could be even better than Mycroft. What an odd person. Clever she may be, but trying to escape her old life will put her back in the center or it all.'

Lilac frowned as she remembered her old friend. After the series of events that separated them, she had only befriended a handful of people., and she hadn't spoken to any of them for at least three months. 'I could always find them, but why would I do that? That's not exactly leaving my old life behind, is it?'. Lilac looked over at Sherlock and smiled. 'New life, new friends.'

"Thanks for putting some of these things away." Lilac looked at the box, now practically empty.

"Thank you for not being boring." Sherlock returned Lilac's smile, and turned to John, who had just walked in. "I am needed elsewhere. Until next time, Lilac." Sherlock to the door with a beaming smile.

"Until next time, Sherlock." Lilac quietly returned.


End file.
